Tristán White wrote:
(snip)
Now I know that they are saying that the Silverlink south of Stratford will
be redundant because of the DLR extension which will go via Star Lane,
Abbey Road, Stratford High Street and Stratford International, but (a) this
has not been approved yet by the Transport & Works Act, and (b) it won't
happen until 2010 at the earliest. So between November 2006 and a date
possibly in 2010, this part of London will be shafted.

Since the DLR extension will be taking over the North London Line
alignment, it's necessary to close this section so that construction of
the DLR can begin.

In the interim, a single change at Stratford will be required for
passengers from Canning Town and West Ham, and passengers from Custom
House, Silvertown and North Woolwich will need to change twice (by
taking the DLR from the nearest equivalent station to Canning Town, and
then Jubilee to Stratford).

It's inconvenient but the result will be a superior frequency, with
trains at least six trains per hour from Custom House, London City
Airport (instead of Silvertown) or King George V (instead of North
Woolwich) to Stratford.

I think it's ludicrous to dissolve such a busy and useful service (and
quite punctual too) such as the Stratford to Woolwich service on the
Silverlink. Oh, that's another thing - Woolwich don't get their DLR
extension until 2009 - they're going to be REALLY marginalised. Property
values there will plummet.

Woolwich (Arsenal), south of the river, is not connected to the North
London Line, so they are not losing out in the meantime at all (and will
get an excellent service from 2009). North Woolwich, north of the river,
already has the DLR service to King George V which is much more frequent
than the North London Line service.

There will be some short-term inconvenience, but once the full Woolwich
Arsenal - Stratford International route opens, it will serve the local
area much better than the line it replaces. Property values should
increase significantly.

I think it's short-sighted of them to get rid of a service before a
suitable alternative is in place. And as for these Stratford High Street /
Stratford International stations, will it be relatively easy to jump onto
the Silverlink from these stations? Probably not.

The DLR will *also* call at the existing Stratford station for
interchange with the North London Line and all the other services
available there. The calling pattern from Canning Town will be Star
Lane, West Ham, Abbey Road, Stratford High Street, Stratford, Stratford
International.

So someone going from Woolwich to Camden really will have to find another
way of getting there in future, even when the DLR extension finally arrives
there in 2009, as taking the DLR to Stratford and then hopping onto the
Silverlink to Camden Road is not going to be that quick of a "hop" - and
probably will involve going through the shopping centre, or a long walk.

Not really true - travellers from North Woolwich to Camden will be able
to take a DLR from King George V to Stratford (departing every ten
minutes initially, every five minutes in the future) where they can
change directly onto the North London Line to Camden.

They will also have the option, if they choose, of travelling directly
to Bank and changing to the Northern Line (although I know this takes
them through Zone 1).

Passengers from Woolwich itself, south of the river, will have the new
option of a quick and frequent DLR link to Stratford for the NLL,
compared to the existing foot tunnel or ferry and then a half-hourly
service from North Woolwich.

So
the Woolwich person after 2009 will I guess take the DLR to Canning Town,
change to the Jubilee to Stratford, and change to the Silverlink to Camden
Road. Whereas s/he used to be able to go straight through. And they call
that progress?

Well, if we're talking about North Woolwich, then they will have a DLR
direct to Stratford every 10 minutes followed by a Silverlink every 15
minutes, compared to a direct Silverlink every 30 minutes.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London